"I can't make you believe what your own heart is telling you. That's on you, Billy. I've had a hard enough time following my own in the course of my life. But I know enough to say that when you feel like someone's smile is just for you, when it warms you like that, when your heart skips that beat, it is a way of caring about them. Whether it comes from him being good to you or not, it's still a form of care."

It's still love. Whether that grows into something more serious or not has a lot to do with how the two of them feed it. Or starve it.

"As for him, we've got enough guys here that I can't begin to guess which one it is, so I can't say anything for sure about him. But going that far out of the way to spoil a guy for his birthday? That feels a bit more than platonic to me."